Okay, shit, how do I start this. This trip was intense. Drove up alone from LA to Santa Barbara to meet up with ex-ex-ex-Kanz. We drove to the beach late at night and partied in the party van, “The Wet Stallion.” After a bottle of wine and some beers we passed out and woke up the next day. I got a haircut and we drove up to Arroyo Grande to hit up Big Falls.

Big Falls is a ways up from SB, about 2 hours away. We got to the final road and realized the car was not gonna make the river crossings, so we began to walk. After about 20 minutes, a truck of real-time bad-asses offered us a ride in the bed. We drove across about 10 river crossings to the trail head.

The hike to the falls is very short, about 10 minutes. We pounded some beers, smoked some fags, jumped some cliffs and slid some slides. Luckily the SLO crew knew how to roll deep so we def had the party going. The girls manned up and jumped, the dudes busted out backflipz and Throb jumped the big one. We also tag-teamed the slide. Super amazing day. I can’t thank the SLO crew enough for giving us a ride out there. We definitely lucked out on this one.

Afterward we meet up with J. Cocksin at the beach and headed over to Sycamore Hot Springs. We soaked for 2 hours and got trashed, went back to the campsite and cooked some chili dogs and passed out.

On the way back to SB the next day we tried to go to Red Rocks and the road was washed out. Instead we went downstream to a spot off the side of the road and swam.

Amazing trip, thanks again to the SLO crew for the ride and to Kaylie for being awesome.

Directions to Big Falls: Take 101N and exit Grand in Arroyo Grande and go right. Grand turns into Branch then into Huasna then into Lopez drive. Follow Lopez drive for 8.1 miles then turn right on Hi Mountain Rd then left on Upper Lopez Canyon. Drive 12.9 miles and many river crossings to the trail head. Follow signs for Big Falls and hike ten minutes to the first fall. Go up the right side and another 1.5 miles to the second fall. The second falls dries up pretty early in the year so keep that in mind.

WARNING: You need a truck or lifted vehicle to make the river crossings, do not attempt to do them in your crappy lowered honda civic.

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I was wondering what kind of swimming opportunities were available in that area of the Los Padres National Forest, I remember trying to find a place to swim in the headwaters of the Salinas River just east of Big Falls a few years back, to no avail. Did you have to purchase an Adventure Pass to park in this part of the forest? They tried to implement that program for use of the Los Padres up here in Monterey County – it lasted about a year.

Just out of curiosity, the last three photos you posted look like a totally different area than Big Falls – Lopez Lake, perhaps?